First round opponent

[coolboarder]

1 hour ago, Captain Kirk said:

If we win both our final games and Dallas loses there final game we actually win the conference because we have more regulation wins so we would face the Kings or Vegas.

 

Nevermind i guess it goes by superior points percentage first?

It will be the regulation win after game 82.  Point percent at end of the season regardless of how you get it will be same as total points.  82 games played, 111 points gained assuming if Dallas loses in regulation on Wednesday and we win both games left.  We still own the tiebreak in that case via the regulation win as 2nd part of tiebreaker.  The question becomes, do we want the first in the west and face LAK or VGK since Nashville clinched W1?  Considering factored into the possibility of facing Dallas in western conference final is we would still want to have the home ice for first 3 rounds if we face Dallas in that case?   

 

We really need to ignore the fear factor built in our psyche of prospecting of facing LAK or VGK for all wrong reasons even if they have our number and Stone coming back with VGK circumventing the cap via the LTIR loopholes.  Truthfully, I admit, it has got to me but we still must ignore that feeling.  It is deceiving.  Chemistry will still be a factor if Stone might not be able to catch up with game speed and Hertl was still carrying from Sharks horrid days with few games under their belt and chemistry may never come with long layoff from the injury reserve.  Don't expect them to be instant with chemistry until after 7 games.  If they do win the series, and we face VGK in 2nd round or WCF, it becomes harder.  LAK in other hand will be tough but if we could figure them out, and exploit their weakness in 1-3-1 at will and PP regain their touch from 1st half of the season, anything possible.  One thing is missing from the season series is that we didn't score first goal against them and that has been the factor of LA winning the season series against us. 

[Mc1laren]

If we win against Calgary tomorrow, its quite possible and certainly something we should do and rest Hughes, Miller, Boeser and Hronek. Let PDG, Aman, Juulsen and maybe Woo come up and play. It would help the Canucks lose. They wont say it publicly but im sure they prefer to play the Nashville over Vegas or LA

[wai_lai416]

no teams will admit they want to avoid certain teams for matchups.. but i wonder if dallas will lose the next game and give vancouver a chance for 1st on purpose.. i don't think ANY team would rather play vegas than nashville now that stone is guaranteed back and their 100million dollar roster is ready to lock and loaded.. same with winnipeg.. they might not try that hard to win their game on thursday if canucks have a chance at the conference.. coz if canucks win the conference.. LA/vegas is guaranteed not on winnipeg's side of the bracket should they advance

Edited April 16 by wai_lai416

[Bonkers]

I wonder which team wants to avoid Demko in the first round. We are a completely different animal when he's on the ice - and he's rested. I'd say bring on Vegas!

[wai_lai416]

53 minutes ago, Bonkers said:

I wonder which team wants to avoid Demko in the first round. We are a completely different animal when he's on the ice - and he's rested. I'd say bring on Vegas!

i dont think vegas cares about demko.. demko's stats vs vegas is actually pretty bad.. even if you include the bubble to bring it up a little.. he's giving up 4+ goals against vegas 4 out of 6 starts outside of the bubble 

[kettlevalley]

It is pretty much certain we play the Predators.  Yes Vegas can pass the Predators but they would also pass the Kings.  Thus leaving the Predators still in WC1.  

 

Very little chance we win the conference.  

 

Only real drama is in the east.  

[Canuck You]

5 minutes ago, kettlevalley said:

It is pretty much certain we play the Predators.  Yes Vegas can pass the Predators but they would also pass the Kings.  Thus leaving the Predators still in WC1.  

 

Very little chance we win the conference.  

 

Only real drama is in the east.  

Yepp, Pretty much. Just need 1 pt and we're good..Hopefully they get it tomorrow and ice Abby for the Jets...I'm glad the Coil put a little pressure on, It's good practice for the P/O, Last game was the most important game of the season and now tomorrow's is..At least it will be a lil' sneak preview what it's going to be like playing under a lil' pressure before the big show.

[wai_lai416]

6 hours ago, coolboarder said:

It will be the regulation win after game 82.  Point percent at end of the season regardless of how you get it will be same as total points.  82 games played, 111 points gained assuming if Dallas loses in regulation on Wednesday and we win both games left.  We still own the tiebreak in that case via the regulation win as 2nd part of tiebreaker.  The question becomes, do we want the first in the west and face LAK or VGK since Nashville clinched W1?  Considering factored into the possibility of facing Dallas in western conference final is we would still want to have the home ice for first 3 rounds if we face Dallas in that case?   

 

We really need to ignore the fear factor built in our psyche of prospecting of facing LAK or VGK for all wrong reasons even if they have our number and Stone coming back with VGK circumventing the cap via the LTIR loopholes.  Truthfully, I admit, it has got to me but we still must ignore that feeling.  It is deceiving.  Chemistry will still be a factor if Stone might not be able to catch up with game speed and Hertl was still carrying from Sharks horrid days with few games under their belt and chemistry may never come with long layoff from the injury reserve.  Don't expect them to be instant with chemistry until after 7 games.  If they do win the series, and we face VGK in 2nd round or WCF, it becomes harder.  LAK in other hand will be tough but if we could figure them out, and exploit their weakness in 1-3-1 at will and PP regain their touch from 1st half of the season, anything possible.  One thing is missing from the season series is that we didn't score first goal against them and that has been the factor of LA winning the season series against us. 

We won’t face Vegas or whoever ends up in wc2.. the earliest we will see them is the conference final we can worry about that if and when we get there. I don’t want Vegas just for the fact that Vegas seems to pump a lot of goals on us regardless of who’s in net. Demko 5 of his 8 games against Vegas is 4+ goals against. Prolly not ideal for Demko to shake off rust against. LA or Nashville would prolly be better for him to shake off the rust and get hot

[Bonkers]

18 hours ago, wai_lai416 said:

We won’t face Vegas or whoever ends up in wc2.. the earliest we will see them is the conference final we can worry about that if and when we get there. I don’t want Vegas just for the fact that Vegas seems to pump a lot of goals on us regardless of who’s in net. Demko 5 of his 8 games against Vegas is 4+ goals against. Prolly not ideal for Demko to shake off rust against. LA or Nashville would prolly be better for him to shake off the rust and get hot

Rust is off, already hot 

 

[IBatch]

On 4/16/2024 at 4:38 AM, wai_lai416 said:

no teams will admit they want to avoid certain teams for matchups.. but i wonder if dallas will lose the next game and give vancouver a chance for 1st on purpose.. i don't think ANY team would rather play vegas than nashville now that stone is guaranteed back and their 100million dollar roster is ready to lock and loaded.. same with winnipeg.. they might not try that hard to win their game on thursday if canucks have a chance at the conference.. coz if canucks win the conference.. LA/vegas is guaranteed not on winnipeg's side of the bracket should they advance

Burke recently said that every team has a specific match-up they are hoping for but will never admit to it publicly.   Like Bieksa said, they were hoping to play TB, and for good reason, watched that series and our team was much better suited to playing their style, cup won in 5 games im sure.    

 

As soon as the TDL is done, the scouts are used to look and scout possible first round teams.    Vegas doesn't seem like much of a prize.  Very much like when we had to play the cup champs CHI.   

[wai_lai416]

41 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Burke recently said that every team has a specific match-up they are hoping for but will never admit to it publicly.   Like Bieksa said, they were hoping to play TB, and for good reason, watched that series and our team was much better suited to playing their style, cup won in 5 games im sure.    

 

As soon as the TDL is done, the scouts are used to look and scout possible first round teams.    Vegas doesn't seem like much of a prize.  Very much like when we had to play the cup champs CHI.   

ya i guess we will find out after tonight Dallas vs St Louis.. getting top of the conference doesn't really benefit them because it only guarantees home ice in the 3rd round.. if they finish 2nd they don't have to worry about it unless vancouver makes it to the conference final.. imagine dallas loses tonight lol.. will vancouver try to win to play either LA/Vegas? i personally dont want to just based on the fact they are big and play big.. even if we make it out you might be bruised and battered up. Winnipeg having already clinched 2nd they prolly rest some players and roll all the lines like a preseason game.

[Swizzey]

On 4/16/2024 at 3:13 AM, Mc1laren said:

If we win against Calgary tomorrow, its quite possible and certainly something we should do and rest Hughes, Miller, Boeser and Hronek. Let PDG, Aman, Juulsen and maybe Woo come up and play. It would help the Canucks lose. They wont say it publicly but im sure they prefer to play the Nashville over Vegas or LA

Are there waiver implications with this?

[CanuckMan]

So even if LA wins their next and last game they’d be tied with Nashville in points but Nashville has the tie breaker? So the standings would remain the same? 

[The Lock]

3 hours ago, IBatch said:

Burke recently said that every team has a specific match-up they are hoping for but will never admit to it publicly.   Like Bieksa said, they were hoping to play TB, and for good reason, watched that series and our team was much better suited to playing their style, cup won in 5 games im sure.    

 

As soon as the TDL is done, the scouts are used to look and scout possible first round teams.    Vegas doesn't seem like much of a prize.  Very much like when we had to play the cup champs CHI.   

 

To be fair, if we want the cup, we need to be able to tango with anyone. Luckily, I think we have a lot of character players on the team that I could see being ones to ramp it up in the playoffs: Joshua, Garland, Zadorov, Hoglander, etc. These are the ones that could make a huge difference. In fact, if we played Boston again in the finals, I think our team on paper looks like what Boston looked like when they beat us in a way. lol

Edited April 17 by The Lock

[Roger Neilsons Towel]

I want the nostalgia of another Canucks vs Nashville playoff matchup. Bring Kesler out of retirement. 

[BabychStache]

21 minutes ago, The Lock said:

 

To be fair, if we want the cup, we need to be able to tango with anyone. Luckily, I think we have a lot of character players on the team that I could see being ones to ramp it up in the playoffs: Joshua, Garland, Zadorov, Hoglander, etc. These are the ones that could make a huge difference. In fact, if we played Boston again in the finals, I think our team on paper looks like what Boston looked like when they beat us in a way. lol

Agreed. One big difference is the sheer size of our Blue line too. Cole, Soucy, Myers, and Zadorov are all big and play big. We saw in the last 30 games that the refs were really cracking down on players using their size, but with the playoffs, maybe the whistles are a little further from the lips and our big boys can put a hurt on the opposition. 

 

The Powerplay will be what makes or breaks this team though. They need it to be humming. I HOPE Tochett was sandbagging and keeping something up his sleeve. 

[Bob Long]

8 minutes ago, BabychStache said:

Agreed. One big difference is the sheer size of our Blue line too. Cole, Soucy, Myers, and Zadorov are all big and play big. We saw in the last 30 games that the refs were really cracking down on players using their size, but with the playoffs, maybe the whistles are a little further from the lips and our big boys can put a hurt on the opposition. 

 

The Powerplay will be what makes or breaks this team though. They need it to be humming. I HOPE Tochett was sandbagging and keeping something up his sleeve. 

 

we're a really good 5 on 5 team tho, we are 5th in even strength goals (https://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?report=goalsforbystrength&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20232024&seasonTo=20232024&gameType=2&sort=goalsFor5On5&page=0&pageSize=50)

 

and 3rd in goals against 5 on 5 (https://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?report=goalsagainstbystrength&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20232024&seasonTo=20232024&gameType=2&sort=a_goalsAgainst5On5&page=0&pageSize=50)

 

We actually might prefer as much even strength play as we can get. 

[RomanPer]

5 hours ago, CanuckMan said:

So even if LA wins their next and last game they’d be tied with Nashville in points but Nashville has the tie breaker? So the standings would remain the same? 

 

From WC perspective - yes. Nashville is WC 1 and 4th team in Pacific is WC2. The only possible change is if LA win and Vegas doesn't win, LA will jump back into 3rd in Pacific and Vegas to WC2.

[Dumb Nuck]

If I got this correct, if LA wins and Vegas loses and either we lose or Dallas gets 1 point we face Vegas.

[RomanPer]

34 minutes ago, Dumb Nuck said:

If I got this correct, if LA wins and Vegas loses and either we lose or Dallas gets 1 point we face Vegas.

 

Wrong. If LA wins and Vegas losses, LA is in 3rd in Pacific and Vegas is in WC 2. WC2 plays the conference winner, which in your scenario will be Dallas. The only way we can play either LA or Vegas is if Dallas loses in regulation today and we win tomorrow.

[Bleed Blue and Green]

About to clinch Nashville

[DownUndaCanuck]

Time to scout Nashville.

 

Average PP, below average PK

10th in GF/game, pretty average GA/game, average faceoffs

Very much a top heavy team with little depth. Forsberg's had a monster year, Josi is probably the 3rd best defenceman in the league (best overall?) but after that there's not much going on. Saros is a shell of his former self but you know he can steal a game or two.

 

If we just focus on shutting down Forsberg and overloading Josi we should be fine. I'd expect Miller and Hughes/Hronek to take their stars, leaving Petey against their 2nd line which could be interesting if it's ROR or Novak. Our 3rd line will feast, I hope we put Blueger in that spot to score more. Alternatively we could play Lindholm against Forsberg and purely try to shut him down.

 

Having Hughes and Hronek out there against Forsberg's line means he will barely touch the puck, defence by offensive possession.

 

Surely we win this in 5 or 6 at the very worst.

 

[CanuckMan]

1 hour ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Time to scout Nashville.

 

Average PP, below average PK

10th in GF/game, pretty average GA/game, average faceoffs

Very much a top heavy team with little depth. Forsberg's had a monster year, Josi is probably the 3rd best defenceman in the league (best overall?) but after that there's not much going on. Saros is a shell of his former self but you know he can steal a game or two.

 

If we just focus on shutting down Forsberg and overloading Josi we should be fine. I'd expect Miller and Hughes/Hronek to take their stars, leaving Petey against their 2nd line which could be interesting if it's ROR or Novak. Our 3rd line will feast, I hope we put Blueger in that spot to score more. Alternatively we could play Lindholm against Forsberg and purely try to shut him down.

 

Having Hughes and Hronek out there against Forsberg's line means he will barely touch the puck, defence by offensive possession.

 

Surely we win this in 5 or 6 at the very worst.

 

Great analysis and I’ve been looking for a comparison but had yet to find one. We match up well against them. We have difference makers on our team and they have their own. Will not be easy but if we play the right way we can win 

[Rypien-Punch]

I once heard someone say that playoff teams need a good 1A goalie, big d, an offensive puck moving D and to be strong down the middle on the top 4 lines. 

 

We have all those things and a good coaching staff. If this Canucks team believes in themselves and their systems they have a good chance against any team in the NHL

 

My biggest worry is the refs and their biased officiating. 

[OldFaithfulcap]

5 hours ago, Rypien-Punch said:

I once heard someone say that playoff teams need a good 1A goalie, big d, an offensive puck moving D and to be strong down the middle on the top 4 lines. 

 

We have all those things and a good coaching staff. If this Canucks team believes in themselves and their systems they have a good chance against any team in the NHL

 

My biggest worry is the refs and their biased officiating. 

 

Hope they swallow their whistles.